Abstract

The sea krait Laticauda colubrina is the most widespread member of its genus, extending from the Bay of Bengal through much of Asia and the Indo-Malayan Archipelago to New Guinea and many islands of the western Pacific Ocean. Unconfirmed records of the species may extend the range to the western coast of Central America. The species is subject to marked geographic variation in a number of morphological and meristic characters that have to date defied finer taxonomic resolution.

Two members of this complex previously subsumed under the specific name colubrina are here formally elevated to full species status. One species—Laticauda saintgironsi n.sp.—consists of those populations of L. colubrina s.l. found around the coast and in the coastal waters of the main island of New Caledonia. The second species—Laticauda frontalis (de Vis, 1905)—is a dwarf species found in sympatry and syntopy with Laticauda colubrina in Vanuatu and the Loyalty Islands of New Caledonia.

 
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Bibliographic Data

Short Form
Cogger and Heatwole, 2006, Rec. Aust. Mus. 58(2): 245–256
Author
Harold G. Cogger; Harold F. Heatwole
Year
2006
Title
Laticauda frontalis (de Vis, 1905) and Laticauda saintgironsi n.sp. from Vanuatu and New Caledonia (Serpentes: Elapidae: Laticaudinae)—a new lineage of sea kraits?
Serial Title
Records of the Australian Museum
Volume
58
Issue
2
Start Page
245
End Page
256
DOI
10.3853/j.0067-1975.58.2006.1452
Language
en
Date Published
14 June 2006
Cover Date
14 June 2006
ISSN (print)
0067-1975
CODEN
RAUMAJ
Publisher
The Australian Museum
Place Published
Sydney, Australia
Subjects
REPTILIA; TAXONOMY; NEW CALEDONIA
Digitized
14 June 2006
Available Online
14 June 2006
Reference Number
1452
EndNote
1452.enw
Title Page
1452.pdf
File size: 33kB
Complete Work
1452_complete.pdf
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